So I did not expect to write this chapter as it was. Original i was debating adding in this scene or not, but then it just happened. So enjoy a little flashback chapter!

Ch.10

Flashback 18 years ago

Little five-year-old Vanitas opened his to find that he was in a different place. He last remembered nearing the surface… but after that everything was a blur and then nothing. Now he found himself to be in an environment that was like gone… but something about it felt off. Something he had never seen before and he started to panic.

"Mommy?! Daddy?!" Vanitas shouted as he tried to swim forward. But upon moving forward a little he bumped into something that he couldn't see. He started to sniffle as he rubbed his head. "Where… Where am I?"

He started to swim around, but every once and awhile he would bump into the invisible thing that he could not see. Though he could see through it the more he looked. And as he looked he saw strange rooms that did not look like the rooms back in his house.

"Hello?! Anyone?" Vanitas shouted, his voice shaking with fear.

He swam down towards the bottom of where he was, hoping to find something… anything. But all was empty except the sand covering the bottom as well as various different plants. But then he noticed something from the other side of the clear thing that he did not understand. There was someone there. Curious and hoping it was someone who could help Vanitas swam closer, but just as he got right up to the glass, he froze.

He had only heard stories of humans, but he had never seen one before in person. But from one glance… he knew he was looking at a human right now. With wide fearful eyes he backed away slightly, but soon he became completely frozen in place.

He then remembered… he was near the surface and had seen shadowy figures of humans… and then everything had gone black. Human's had captured him! He was taken by humans and he didn't know what was going to happen next. His eyes started to grow wide again as he began to cry straight out of fear and terror for the situation he was in.

"You do not need to be afraid little one," the human said, and from the voice Vanitas could tell that it was a male. "I do not wish to bring harm to such a magnificent creature."

"B-But…" Vanitas muttered, but the rest of his words came out in a jumbled whimper.

"I only wish to observe and learn more about you little one. Unless you prove to be difficult you should not have to worry about anything. Can you tell me your name?"

Vanitas shook his head as he got farther away. "No! I wanna go home! Let me go home!" Vanitas started to swim around again hitting against the invisible walls that contained him.

"Hmm I suppose it is understandable that the subject will be resistant at first. I suppose questions will have to come at a later time. For now though if you can tell me, what is it your kind eats? I would like to give you food as soon as possible."

Vanitas stopped swimming around and shook his head. "No no! I'm not suppose to talk to humans! Mommy says they bad!"

"But you do not want to go hungry do you?" the man asked Vanitas.

Vanitas swam side to side, feeling conflicted. He didn't want to keep talking to the human, but the human was right. Vanitas didn't want to go without eating. But he still couldn't trust the guy… that was what he was told to believe. But he needed food. He was hungry after all. Slowly he swam back closer to where the man was standing behind the invisible wall.

"You really can get me food?" Vanitas asked quietly.

"Yes, that is one thing I do wish to do right now. All you have to do is tell me what you like to eat."

Vanitas pursed his lips as he thought again. He still was very wary of his human male, but he had no other choice. He was a young, hungry child and he wanted to eat. Finally he gave in and started to tell the man many of the favorite things he liked to eat. And the man seemed to be taking note of it as Vanitas spoke.

"Thank you then, I shall try to get some of these items as soon as I can for you," the man said as he turned to leave.

"Wait! What you name?" Vanitas asked, slightly curious.

"My name is Even, now are you going to tell me what your name is?"

"Vanitas…" Vanitas answered quietly.

The man nodded his head. "Thank you Vanitas. You are going to be a big help." With that the man left without another word.

Vanitas finally let out the rest of his fears as sobs as soon as the man left. He sunk to the bottom as he cried. He had never felt so scared and terrified in all of his life before. Then again he was only five… he hadn't had too many experiences to terrify him yet.

A couple days later

Vanitas swam around the bottom of the tank. Even had finally told him what it was, but it didn't make him feel any better. He was trapped in a big glass box with nowhere to go. And he was extremely lonely now. Sure Even came each day to try and talk to him, but that was just a boring human adult.

"Vanitas," Even's voice echoed through the tank from the built in speakers. "Come down to the observation room glass."

Vanitas got up from where he was laying and slowly made his way down to the glass that showed Even standing on the other side. But this time there was something different. There was two other humans standing with him now, each of them holding one of his hands. It was a young boy human and a young girl human.

As soon as Vanitas got close enough the young girl's eyes light up with wonder. "You found a mermaid daddy! You really found one!" She ran up right to the glass, pressing her hands against it as she stared at Vanitas who floated in front of her.

Vanitas scrunched up his nose as he glared. "I'm not a girl! Ima boy!"

The girl looked at Vanitas with confusion as she tilted her head to the side. "Huh?"

"Mermaids are girls, and mermen are boys! Get it right!" Vanitas shouted before he crossed his arms, his glare turning more into a angry pout.

'I… I'm sorry," the girl said, bowing her head slightly. "I don't mean to upset you mr merman."

"Wouldn't he be more of a mer… boy? 'Cause he looks to be the same age as Xion," the human boy commented.

Vanitas stuck out his tongue at the boy, but did not answer him back. He only decided to keep glaring angrily at them, hoping they wouldn't ask him any more stupid questions. Though Vanitas did begin to wonder just who they were, the girl had called Even 'daddy'... so that had to mean that Even was their father. But they did not resemble him at all… Vanitas started to ponder it a bit more, wondering about it, but he left his thoughts in his head.

Even kneeled down between the two and placed a hand on the girl, that Vanitas now knew was called Xion. She turned around to look at Even, waiting to heard what he had to say. Finally after a moment he spoke up. "I think it may just be a cultural thing for them, unless the boy here just prefers to be called a man, surely you can understand that Ienzo." Even laughed before placing his other hand on Ienzo's head had patted it gently.

"Yeah I guess…" Ienzo answered quietly.

"Anyways," Even said as he stood back up. "We now have a merman here and that means I can finally go through with starting one of my longest awaited projects. And…" he looked down at his children. "You two are going to help me."

Xion's and Ienzo's eyes lit up. Though Ienzo just smiled happily at the thought of helping their father, Xion jumped around and giggled quite joyously. She threw her arms up in the air as she cheered, leaving Vanitas to stare with confusion and a bit of wonder.

"What are you doing?" he finally asked, coming a bit closer to the glass.

"I'm happy," Xion answers. "So I'm doing my happy dance."

Vanitas tilted his head to the side. "I don't get it. I never seen dancing like that."

"It's how humans dance, we use our feet. But how do you dance? Do you just swim around? Like when I play in the pool? Or do you walk on the sand with your tail? Is it hard to dance underwater? Is it fun?"

Vanitas slowly started to back again as the excited little Xion started to ask more and more questions. Even finally placed a hand on her head again, causing her to stop talking and look up at him.

"Vanitas has only been here a few days Xion, do not overwhelm him with your wonderful, never-ending curiosity," Even said as he smiled slightly.

"Oooh, okay. Sorry Vanitas," Xion replied as looked back to Vaintas.

"He still needs some time to adjust being here, but I hope soon we can learn more about you and your world," Even said, speaking directly to Vanitas.

Vanitas didn't answer Even, instead he only was looking at the two children besides him. The more he looked, they had to be around his age at least. Ienzo had even said that Xion looked the same age as him. Vanitas found himself wondering these thoughts about the other kids, but he still didn't want ask them. Not yet at least.

A few months later

Vanitas slept on the bed that he now had. It had been a hard time trying to explain to Even, Xion, and Ienzo what his bed was, but somehow they managed to figure it out. He was thankful for that at least, as he was tired of sleeping on the sandy floors. Though overall it still did not make him feel any better.

He still was terribly scared most of the time, and he was also homesick. Everyday he would hope that his mother or father would come out of nowhere to scoop him up and take him back home. Or even that all of this was just a nightmare and he would wake up right back home. But none of those things even happened. He was still stuck here every single day and night.

Sometimes it felt even scarier at night as he was all alone. Nearly every night he would end up crying himself to sleep. He hated being alone here in the big empty tank. Even had said that they would bring in more items that were like his home, once they learned more, but it was still a long wait.

Though this night as Vanitas was trying to fall asleep he heard something. It was something faint, but he could hear… someone tapping the glass. Vanitas looked up and started to follow the sound to the source of it. He ended up swimming down to the glass that showed the observation room on the other side. And there standing on the other side of the glass were Ienzo and Xion, both of them smiling pleasantly.

"Vani," Xion whispered. "We came to see you."

"I said my name isn't Vani, it's Vanitas," Vanitas replied with a pout.

"But it just a nickname. Just half of Vanitas. Plus Vani sounds cuter," Xion replied as she gave a big smile.

Vanitas shifted slightly, not knowing how to reply to her comment, so instead he turned to Ienzo. "Why are you two here?"

"We know you've been lonely at night, so we wanted to come to talk to you," Ienzo replied.

"But how did you get here without your dad?"

"Oh! I know," Xion answered quickly. "Ienzo is really really really smart. He knows his way around here just like daddy, but I think even better. And he really good with the computers and made it so no one would know we are sneaking down here."

"But why are you two sneaking down here. Why do you wanna come talk to me?" Vanitas asked again.

"Cause we said we know you were lonely, so we wanna talk. And we can be friends then," Xion said.

"Why would I wanna be friends with humans?" Vanitas scoffed as he turned around, facing his back to them.

"Because… we're the only friends you got here. Unless our father ends up capturing more merfolk, but I think he has held off on that part for now," Ienzo replied.

Slowly Vanitas turned his head back, glancing at the two that stood behind the glass. It was true that they were the only children at the laboratory. It was only because they were Even's children that they were there. Vanitas never cared much about them… but the more he thought about it, he did wish that he had someone to talk to. Just naturally talk as the days were always filled with questions and things Vanitas never understood.

"You…" Vanitas started to turn around fully. "You guys really wanna be my friend?"

Xion nodded before placing her hand flat on the glass. "Yeah we do. You are a really cool merman Vani, and I've always wanted a friend like that."

Ienzo then placed his hand on the glass as well. "I agree. You are the the first merfolk we have ever truly seen now. Why would we not wanna try to make friends with you?"

Vanitas started to smile as he felt a small warmth in his heart. Slowly he reached out both his hands and pressed them against the glass, lining one up with Xion's hand and the other with Ienzo.

"Thanks… friends," Vanitas said softly to them.

There it is then. Just a little backstory on the oddest trio ever probably. Has there ever been a Xion, Vanitas, Ienzo trio? If not, then I am the first to do so haha.

Anyways thank you all for reading!